BHUBANESWAR: Utkal Sanskruta Sikshyak Mahasangh (USSM) organised a seminar to observe the state level Sanskrit Divas at Soochna Bhawan here Tuesday. The seminar was inaugurated by Finance minister Sashi Bhushan Behera.
MLA Badri Narayana Patra was invited as the chief guest of the function. Former education minister Debi Prasad Mishra, President of Utkal Sanskruta Sikshyak Mahasangha Prafulla Kumar Sahoo and other members of the Mahasangha were also present at the occasion.
USSM Secretary Narsingha Jena said, “Sanskrit is the foundational language of our culture. It influences our tradition”. However, the language is slowly moving towards extinction. This seminar is an attempt by the Mahasangha to impart the importance of Sanskrit as an ancient language and motivate people to learn it.
The Mahasangha also submitted a memorandum of demands. The demands included up gradation of the post of classical (Sanskrit) teachers to bring them on par with trained graduate teachers. Sanskrit is a special category subject and has been categorized as 3rd language at high school level. They also demanded that steps be taken to increase the number of seats meant only for Odia students for the “Sikshya Sastri” course in Jagannath Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Puri.